Two powerful storms dominated the weather picture across the Pacific on Sunday, as Hurricane Polo closed in on Mexico's Baja California peninsula and Hurricane Nolo slowly loosened its grip on Hawaii.
Polo, a major Category 3 hurricane, was forecast to make landfall on the Baja California peninsula on Monday, prompting residents and authorities to prepare for a dangerous combination of storm surge, high winds and torrential rainfall. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that the storm carried maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) as of Sunday evening.
At the same time, thousands of miles to the west, Hawaii was beginning to exhale. Nolo had weakened in its immediate threat to the islands, drifting well to the southwest of the state and continuing to move away from the Big Island as the weekend came to a close. Even so, the storm's maximum sustained winds had actually strengthened to near 105 mph (165 kph), a reminder that a storm does not need to make landfall to cause serious problems.
For Hawaii, those problems arrived in the form of water. A high-wind warning, a wind advisory and a high surf advisory all remained in effect for parts of the Big Island through Sunday evening. The combination reflected the wide reach of Nolo's circulation, which was still capable of whipping up rough seas and buffeting exposed coastlines even as the center of the storm pushed farther out into the Pacific.
The threat was not merely forecast. Rainwater tied to the nearby hurricane flooded a section of the Mamalahoa highway on Saturday near Naalehu, on the southern end of the Big Island. Fire Captain Lui Sales of the Hawaii Fire Department was photographed looking for residents who might need help as the floodwaters covered the roadway, an image that captured the kind of localized disruption that can accompany a storm lingering offshore.
Forecasters had warned for days that Nolo's most dangerous legacy might be its rainfall rather than its wind. The hurricane had taken an unusual, zig-zagging path through the Pacific, and that erratic motion kept the storm close enough to Hawaii to funnel moisture over the islands while keeping its strongest core at a relative distance. The result was a prolonged period of heavy rain and the potential for dangerous flooding, particularly in areas already saturated by earlier downpours.
By Sunday, Nolo's center was well southwest of Hawaii and headed away from the Big Island. The shift offered relief, but officials cautioned that advisories would remain in place until conditions genuinely improved. High surf, in particular, can persist long after a storm has moved on, as swells generated by a powerful hurricane travel hundreds of miles across open water.
While Hawaii's attention turned toward recovery and cleanup, Mexico's Baja California was only beginning to face its own ordeal. Polo was tracking north at roughly 12 mph (19 kph) and was located about 270 miles (435 kilometers) west of Cabo San Lucas, the resort city at the peninsula's southern tip, according to the hurricane center. That position placed the storm on a course to strike the peninsula directly.
Heavy rainfall from Polo was expected to begin affecting Baja California overnight, well before the storm's center arrived. Forecasters warned that the downpours could produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, a particular concern in a region where steep terrain and dry, hardened soil can turn sudden rain into fast-moving debris flows.
The peninsula's geography amplifies the risk. Baja California stretches for more than a thousand miles, with rugged mountains running down its spine and a string of coastal communities and resort areas along its flanks. Storms that cross the peninsula can deliver punishing rain to areas that rarely see it, overwhelming drainage systems and isolating communities along narrow roads.
Polo is not expected to stop at the coastline. Forecasters said the hurricane would cross Baja California and then strike the Mexican mainland, carrying its moisture inland. Beyond that, the storm's remnants could bring heavy rain and flooding to parts of the U.S. Southwest later in the week, extending its impacts far beyond the initial landfall zone.
That downstream threat is a familiar pattern for Pacific hurricanes, whose remnants sometimes get drawn into the southwestern United States and trigger flash flooding in deserts and canyons. Forecasters urged residents across the region to monitor the storm's progress as it weakens and moves inland.
For now, the immediate focus is on the Mexican peninsula, where residents spent Sunday bracing for the expected arrival of a major hurricane. Storm surge, high winds and heavy rains were all in the forecast, and authorities were preparing for the kind of multi-day emergency that can follow a Category 3 landfall.
The two storms together illustrated the breadth of the Pacific hurricane season's reach, with one system threatening the Hawaiian Islands with flooding rains and another poised to slam into northwestern Mexico before pushing toward the U.S. mainland. While Nolo's departure brought an end to its closest approach to Hawaii, Polo's approach was just beginning — and the week ahead promised to bring its effects to communities far from where the storm first formed.
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